Preserve turns 50; bog much older

This could be a different story of how beginning 50 years ago, the land that now makes up the Tannersville Cranberry Bog was slowly developed and lost.

HELEN YANULUS

This could be a different story of how beginning 50 years ago, the land that now makes up the Tannersville Cranberry Bog was slowly developed and lost.

Instead, it is a celebration of those who had the foresight to save a vital wetland habitat for the environment as well as to educate the public.

The Tannersville Cranberry Bog, which is essentially a 900-acre island of open space in Pocono and Stroud townships, will mark its 50th anniversary on Saturday with speeches, a cranberry toast and guided walks.

Ellen Lott, project manager with The Nature Conservancy based in Long Pond, said, "It's important for all of us to celebrate the protection of the Tannersville Cranberry Bog. It's a special place, and so many people have been involved in expanding and protecting the preserve. It's a group effort that goes over the generations and through the years."

Five decades ago, Dr. Bill Niering organized a fundraising effort, collecting $2,000 from 145 contributors to purchase the first parcel of land at the site. Landowners Allan and Margaret Bryson sold 62 acres of bog land to The Nature Conservancy, which was a new, private nonprofit organization.

Roger Spotts, environmental education coordinator with the Monroe County Environmental Education Center in Bartonsville, said, "The forethought that went into that was unbelievable. Nobody protected land at that time."

The only lands that had been under some protection were the state gamelands and state forest lands. Even the federal government had not yet taken over the area around the Delaware River.

Niering also convinced his uncle, Horace Heller, not to mine peat from the bog. Eventually, Niering acquired an acre in the center and donated it to the conservancy.

"It was unheard of for a private, non-profit buying up land," Spotts said. Many fretted over the loss of their ability to pick cranberries or hunt in the place that is referred to as Cranberry Swamp on many old maps. "Now for the last nine years, open space in Monroe County is doing the same thing. The bog was one of the first open-space protected properties in the county."

Over the years, land was either purchased or donated from 14 landowners. The last purchase, in 2006, was from another member of the original family, Margaret Bryson.

Purchasing land around the bog helps to keep the bog's fragile state intact by avoiding run off from septic systems or fertilizers. Those nutrients could change the ecological makeup of the bog.

"It probably would have disappeared, and we would have lost the opportunity for thousands of people to visit, understand the habitat and understand what open space is all about," Spotts said.

The importance of the bog was evident in the 1955 flood. While almost all the bridges washed away in the county, the few south of the bog survived because the wetland soaked up the excess water.

"The habitat is a boreal, or northern, habitat like the Adirondack Mountains, Maine and Canada where it would be common. In Pennsylvania, it's unheard of," Spotts said.

For a short period in the 1960s, the bog was transferred to Lafayette College, which promoted student visitation and research. The ecosystem suffered, and the conservancy reclaimed the preserve. The college also sold the conservancy an additional 30 acres that it had preserved.

The bog was closed to the public for a few years. In 1977, it was designated a National Natural Landmark, and a year later, the Committee for the Preservation of the Tannersville Cranberry Bog formed, which has provided stewardship for nearly 30 years.

In 1982, the conservancy contracted with the Monroe County Conservation District to design and construct a floating boardwalk, which was built by students at the Monroe County Vocational-Technical School and installed by volunteers in 1983. During the early 1990s, the boardwalk was expanded.

"It provides great access to the center. Otherwise, it would be impossible to walk in there," Spotts said.

This month, visitors will be treated to blooming orchids, pitcher plants, sheep laurel, azaleas and sundews on bog walks.

"The nature preserve is a very special ecological place, a place that 50 years, 150 years from now, our children and their children will be able to see pitcher plants and orchids," Lott said. "It's great for people to see it. It's great to walk it, smell it and see it. Its bog-like smell stays with you."